Alexander Sorokin

In 2024, scientists from HSE University-St Petersburg went on two expeditions to the Indian Himalayas. The second trip finished at the beginning of October, and now, the researchers are summing up its results. Read on to find out what new things they learned about the state of Himachal Pradesh, why floods and earthquakes have increased dramatically, and how local citizens adapt to the growth of tourism in the region.

On November 4, the International Science Fiction Symposium 'Inventing the Future' started in Moscow at the Russia National Centre. Guests and experts discussed what humanity will be like in several decades in the rapidly changing global space. Professors from HSE University-St Petersburg were guest speakers at the symposium.

Pretty soon, HSE University-St Petersburg will go on the second expedition to the Himalayas organised together with the University of Delhi. This time, researchers will visit the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh which is known for more severe weather conditions at this time of the year. Together with colleagues from the Indian university, they will continue to study how the local communities adapt to ecological and climatic changes, focusing on the sociological aspect of the research.

Lots of people know Alexander Sorokin as a Dean of the St Petersburg School of Social Sciences but earlier, he engaged in the history of science and studied the Tomsk physicists. At the moment, he is working at the junction of several areas—anthropology, research on science and technology and environmental history, helps our students to study the local communities in the Indian Himalayas. We discussed with the Candidate of Historical Sciences what it was like to work constantly at the junction of various spheres, go on expeditions and run three marathons in different locations across the globe.

The editorial staff of HSE University-St Petersburg are looking forward to the new academic year as much as students and professors are. We are sure that it will be very eventful: there are exciting research projects, new educational partnerships and interesting scientific conferences waiting for HSE students. To mark the holiday, we have talked to deans, academic supervisors of educational programmes and research units about their expectations for the next year.

At HSE University-St Petersburg, professors from three universities in Kazakhstan completed a two-week continuing education programme organised by the School of Social Sciences. The internship became a new stage of cooperation between HSE University and Kazakh universities.

Six HSE students have returned from the expedition to the Himalayas organised by the St Petersburg School of Social Sciences and the University of Delhi. Together with colleagues from the Indian university, they studied local mountain communities of the western part of the Himalayas. The intermediate result of this trip was three hypotheses about the sustainable development of the region. The international project was the first stage of joint climate change research planned for five years.

The Working Group on Education, Science and Technologies had the first meeting organised by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Higher Education of Malaysia. The participants discussed the cooperation formats, including the development of the mirror laboratory of HSE University-St Petersburg and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) in the sphere of social entrepreneurship which was officially opened during the HSE International Partners' Days.

In April, HSE University-St Petersburg held the conference 'HSEIMUN 2024'. This year, it gathered more than 100 delegates from among university and school students from Russia and Kazakhstan. The most active participants received souvenirs. Check out how the event went in the article.

Pretty soon, six students of HSE University-St Petersburg will go on an expedition to the Himalayas jointly organised with the University of Delhi. We found out the details of the international project from Alexander Sorokin, Dean of the St Petersburg School of Social Sciences, and addressed some questions to Agata Kurnos, 4th-year student of the Bachelor's programme 'Public Policy and Analytics', who will join the expedition.

A delegation from HSE University in St Petersburg has visited universities in India. HSE representatives attended eight universities, and held meetings with management, teachers, and researchers. Here, participants talk about their impressions, cooperation agreements and some cultural peculiarities of India.

HSE University-St Petersburg and the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi), a leading Indian university, have agreed to launch joint research projects in the field of social, political studies, humanities, and data analysis for master's students. On the Russian side, this work will be coordinated by the HSE St Petersburg School of Social Sciences.

HSE and the Indian Institute of Management Indore (IIMI) have agreed to open a mirror laboratory, determining their key priorities to be joint activities in the fields of nature conservation, research into environmental behaviour and sustainable development, and territorial branding in relation to Indian regions. The agreement on the new laboratory was reached during an ongoing visit by an HSE delegation to India.

In 2023, Alexander Sorokin became the new dean of the School of Social Sciences and Area Studies. Among his research interests are socio-environmental research and social research into higher education, and science. In this interview, Prof. Sorokin talks about new educational programmes, partner research, and mobility directions.

In the framework of a major academic mission to Latin America, a delegation from HSE University-St Petersburg has visited leading Peruvian universities. Peru is considered to be a platform for creating an academic hub for work across the continent.

HSE University will develop academic cooperation with Indian universities. This is what the delegation of HSE University-St Petersburg headed by Anna Tyshetskaya, Campus Director, agreed on with several leading universities in India: the University of Delhi, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT Delhi) and Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU).

From September 25–29, HSE University-Moscow hosted International Partners’ Week. Annually, HSE University gathers representatives of the world’s leading universities and academic supervisors of HSE educational programmes from campuses in Moscow, St Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod and Perm. The participants of International Partners’ Week discuss development trends in the system of higher education and find opportunities for implementing new directions of cooperation between universities.

The implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals can provide a breakthrough in creating a better future for younger generations, and universities are at the forefront of this process. Representatives of world universities discussed how to train future decision-making leaders in the concepts of sustainable development and make education more practice-oriented at the session ‘At the Frontier of Progress: Universities as a Key Element in Achieving SDGs’ in the framework of International Partners’ Week at HSE University.